Archive for July, 2006
The Space Frontier has released a White Paper highly critical of NASA’s strategy to service LEO. In it they call for America to commit to using the private sector to service all LEO-destined crew and cargo services by 2010.
Though this report does not directly speak to building or using a Space Elevator, it certainly is relevant to it as most of us in the SE community believe that Private Enterprise is the way to go for space exploration and exploitation. This study makes a solid case for getting NASA out of this role as quickly as possible.
(Bob Munck alert - the report is in pdf format)
July 27th, 2006
Seeker, JJ, over at Yahoo! 360 thinks that “We are on the threshold of a space elevator…”.
July 26th, 2006
On August 29th, Dr. Brad Edwards is scheduled to be interviewed on Dr. David Livingston’s The Space Show. The theme of the interview will be space-based solar power, a pet topic of mine.
All of The Space Show interviews are available via podcast in case you cannot listen in at that time.
July 25th, 2006
This is an article from the July 16th, 2006 Toronto Star, discussing the Punkworks team’s entry into this year’s 2010 Space Elevator competition (it’s in Word format - and you’ll have to Zoom in to be able to read it).
Money Quote from Punkworks team leader Allen Atamer: “We don’t have the money to pay for a $300 titanium screw that goes on the Shuttle. We have Canadian tire.”
July 24th, 2006
According to the online newsletter of The Space Show, Dr. Rob Hoyt of Tethers Unlimited is scheduled to appear on the August 1st, 2006 show.
If you miss the podcast, you can go to their website and download/play the interview.
July 23rd, 2006
In an earlier post, I had discussed the idea of skydiving from space. Michael Laine from LiftPort had commented about “a business proposal that is being worked up, with our balloon based lifter test platforms that carry people up to about 5 miles, and they can jump from there… it would be a wild ride, and it should be possible within 2-3 years.”
Here’s an article from Space.com about someone who wants to parachute / free-fall from an altitude of 25 miles.
I think I’ll just watch…
July 15th, 2006
This article at Investors.com discusses the current state of Space Elevator development.
July 5th, 2006
schmoo on the run thinks the future is with “space lifts” over the Shuttle (and yes, I speak American)…
July 5th, 2006
The Boston Museum of Science produces a series of podcasts on various technical topics. In the current week’s offering, the Space Elevator games coming up in October are described, along with a “Space Elevator 101″ primer for the uninitiated. Despite the technical errors in the presentation (geosynchronous orbit is defined as 27,000 Kilometers above the earth and all of the rest of their measurements are proportionally incorrect), it’s good to see yet another outlet talking about Space Elevators.
The presentation is linked to here and covers two topics. You can skip the first topic if you like (Scorpions for Cancer Therapy - as a cancer survivor, I found it quite interesting); the Space Elevator Games section begins at 7 minutes, 42 seconds in and lasts for a little over 11 minutes.
July 2nd, 2006
